As of 8:10am this morning one of the finer programs in the country is lost due to "budgetary" problems.
No one saw it coming and they just recently signed some top level recruits that gave them one of the top 3 recruiting classes in the country.
Somehow ASU can afford to build a $19.5 million practice facility for basketball.
Yeah, but ASU is a basketball powerhouse.
Oh no, that's right, they actually suck.
Oh, Shark, rattling off stats without context is an easy way to get yourself in trouble.
But, let's examine further. OSU last won a men's NCAA swimming and diving champion ship in 1962. Let me repeat - 1962. Since then an SEC school has won it 10 times. And, a Big 10 school, other than OSU has won it 6 times, led by a historically great Indiana team. The women have never won it or not since 1982, as far back as I found records.*
Then, you go on to crow about how great OSU is from a sports perspective. Again, let's look a little more closely at that statement. Every year since 1993 (which excludes your last swimming and diving championship in 1962, when gull was only 25 years old), the NCADA gives a trophy for the most successful collegiate athletic program. The beloved OSU has never won it, and has been in the top 4 only 3 times, fewer than both PSU and Mich in your own conference.
To be fair Stanford does win it almost every year except the first year when the 'Heels won it. Also, to be fair to Smith, Texas is a dominant school historically and currently in most sports. That could partially explain the tattoo.
I feel bad for ASU Men's Swimming and deluded OSU fans.
*I did this very quickly and apologize for any errors, there are sure to be some.
I think we've found the problem with men's college swimming right here. Even in a swimming forum such as this a thread about the demise of a men's swim team turns into a discussion about football.
Say what you want, but Ohio State is Ohio State. Correct me if I am wrong. 11 National Swimming and Diving Championships. 7 National Championships in football. 1 Basketball National Championship. Going on countless Sychronize Swimming Championships, Men's Gymnastics Championships etc.
No, no, keep going, you're on a roll: synchro swimming AND men's gymnastics? "Countless," you say? And I'm dying to know about the "etc" -- ping pong? Curling? Don't leave us hanging! :)
You did, however, completely convince Paul Smith and his tutu of the supremacy of your school.
As an aside: my uncle, who is an immigrant, had heard of THE Ohio State University even from across the Atlantic. He asked his new brother-in-law -- my father -- for his help in applying to this wonderful school! It was the Woody Hayes era, after all.
Unfortunately, my dad misunderstood and instead got him admitted into...Ohio University, where he matriculated. My uncle, whose English was perhaps suspect at the time, didn't realize the error until he arrived on campus.
As an aside: my uncle, who is an immigrant, had heard of THE Ohio State University even from across the Atlantic.
Maybe he really like the book/movie "Goodbye Columbus."
I normally ignore these posts of schools cutting a swimming program, as I didn't swim in college myself, and many times have no idea where some of these schools even are located. I think of swimming as an, "extra-curricular activity," where the focus of college should be on going to class and getting a degree. But in this case, there is so much more going on, and since I swim with the masters team at ASU, I'm commenting.
The story about this was on the front page of the local newspaper today, "The Arizona Republic,":
www.azcentral.com/.../0514boivinasu0514.html
I think Paul Smith may have posted that same story, but wanted to re-iterate how this is HUGE news not only for ASU and/or swimming, but for the Phoenix area, and Arizona as a whole. Even in my office, where no one else even swims, I have heard people chatting about this.
Swimming in the Arizona deserts is a natural function, which can evolve into a sport for many people. Kind of like ice skating or hockey in an area that gets cold and allows for natural frozen lakes. When you fly in or out of PHX, you see so many houses (about 1/3) with backyard pools....which exposes kids to the idea of swimming. When I first moved to the area some 13 years ago, it was almost like a culture change, with swimming being such a strong focus.
While it is the goal of any person playing an olympic sport to get to the Olympics, a more realistic goal for many in the area was to swim for ASU. Before/during/after practice this morning, some of the folks who have lived in AZ longer said how all of their swimming programs were based on eventually getting onto the ASU swim team. It was very somber in the locker room as people discussed the whole cutting of the sport, and how it was done.
Swimming was cut at NAU in the early 90s, now at ASU, which leaves only the UofA with a college-level swim team for the entire state. A state which is growing far faster than most others in the country. I struggle with the fact that the college I attended (Kutztown Univ, www.kutztown.edu), far smaller and in an area not known for swimming, is able to have a men's swim team even to this day, while ASU is not.
Tim - is the NAU pool still open? I swam there a few times in the 90s while visiting my bro who was in grad school there. Super pool.
Yes it is, and that is a great pool. I swam there a few weeks ago while I was in Flag for a biz trip. One of the middle lanes was, "closed," to normal swimmers while some special folks trained there. NAU regularly gets extra funds by allowing the use of the pool (and track, and other facilities) for high-altitude training.
There's a very small masters group that swims there, I think just 2-3 times a week. I swam with them once and was the fastest there (and I'm not fast). Usually I'm not there the right day and just go during open swim (an experience in itself). The pool is usually set up long course.
For those who love conspiracy theories a good one being discussed at workout today is the standing offer that the University has to buy the Mona Plummer complex and tea it down to extend mixed use retail/condo's from Mill Ave....this same developed already purchased the old ROTC building across the street and its scheduled to be developed soon.
The University/athletic department already have plans completed for the new pool on the east side of campus....problem is that the offer the developer came in was such a lowball that it wouldn't cover the cost of building the new pool which is what they asked for.
So, with a major budget crunch and the possibility of actually making money vs. continuing to lose it on W's swimming, M's/W's diving and W's water polo...what are the chances aquatics are cut entirely in the next few years?
